1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mirror mount system for vehicles and more particularly to a breakaway mount attachable to the body of a vehicle and adapted to securely hold the pole or staff of an automotive mirror which can break away without detaching from the vehicle body.
2. Related Art
Motor vehicles, and in particular larger vehicles such as buses, trucks and the like, require an array of mirrors mounted on exterior surfaces of such vehicles in order to improve the visibility and field of view of the driver in and around the vehicle. Typically, an automotive mirror element has attached to it a staff or pole which is secured within a mount system which is in turn attached to the body of the vehicle.
The present invention concerns itself with the mount per se and specifically with a mount system of the type which can be attached to the body of the vehicle, for example to the fenders.
Single connection point mirror mounts of the above type are described in the present Assignee""s previously issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,899, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
In addition, mirror mounts for vehicles-have been described in several issued patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,969,715, 3,592,532, 4,165,156, 4,500,063, 5,316,257 and 5,106,049, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Tripod style mirror mounts are also known of the type in which a main mirror pole has one end thereof supporting a mirror head and another end rigidly attached to the vehicle. It includes two bracing poles which extend at an angle to the main mirror support pole in well known manner.
The known mirror pole mounting systems suffer from the drawback which ensues from the fact that when the mirror system contacts an obstruction, it is subject to breaking away, damaging not only the mirror system, but the vehicle body to which the mirror system is anchored as well.
Accordingly, the general objective of the present invention is to provide a substantially improved mirror mount system which can be mounted to various mirror surfaces and which incorporate a breakaway system that protects the vehicle body from being damaged.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a breakaway mirror mount system which is sturdier, less expensive and reliably connectable to a vehicle body.
Yet a further object of the present invention is to provide a mirror mount system with a breakaway capability, but with a provision that retains a connection between the mirror system and the vehicle, even after the mirror system has been partially detached in response to a collision with an obstruction.
Essentially, the cross-view mirror assembly consists of a tripod with a cross-view mirror head attached to it. Three pieces of tubing which comprise the tripod are attached to the vehicle, typically a school bus, via spherical joints. The two forward joints are allowed to xe2x80x9csnap outxe2x80x9d in the event of the mirror hitting an obstacle (the breakaway feature). The rear joint, which supports the third leg of the tripod, does not disengage, keeping the assembly attached to the vehicle at all times.
The present invention focuses on the joint between the terminal ends of the tripod tubes and the vehicle body.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention which refers to the accompanying drawings.